For some strange reason, yesterday I just decided to switch gears. I still have the final proof reading of the boot pattern to do, but I wanted to get away from it for a day and move on to something else. Besides, we are looking at a site update by the weekend and I wanted to have something new up there for March that others will also like to do. So I refocused.

And here is what I came up with:

Well . . . part of it anyway. You didn’t really think that I was going to show you the whole thing, did you? ;)

Like the heart shaped ornaments, I decided to do a set of shamrocks. It wasn’t all for “work” though. Part of it was quite selfish. As I gazed upon my little All Season Tree decorated in its lovely pink and red Valentine hearts, the reality came to me that after next week, it would look ‘so yesterday’ and I wanted something to get me through the month of March. The heart ornaments and pendants were very popular and I had many requests to make more jewelry type items for people to scroll saw. So what would be better than a whole patch of shamrock ornaments and pendants? (It is a ‘patch’ of shamrocks, isn’t it?)

I actually got the idea Monday night and spent the day yesterday drawing. It was one of those days where my pen just flowed and not only did I have a dozen three-sided shamrocks by the end of the day, but also three additional four sided clover designs to make a total of fifteen cool looking ornaments! (The exclamation point is at the end of that sentence because I am truly excited about how these came out!)

Who would have thought that you can make a lowly little shamrock into so many different configurations??? I don’t know if it was the coffee, or the full moon or what but my pen mouse was flying and everything just fell into place like it was meant to be.

Then, some time between last night when my head hit the pillow and this morning, It dawned on me that these would also be fine candidates for little pendants like the hearts were. I think they will make splendid little pieces of jewelry and be another popular project among the scrollers.

I need to go out today early and I am going to stop at the little store on the way home that has all the cool jewelry supplies and see if they have what I have in mind for these cool pieces. I see them in my head already and if they come out anywhere near as nice as I envision them, I will be happy.

So it is off to do errands today and then I get to play at the saw for a while and see these fun pieces come to life. I have all that nice maple that we just milled at Bernie’s the other day and I plan to use it for these ornaments. I think they will look good.

Sometimes getting away from one project and focusing on the next can really be a great thing. While I like to start and finish things completely, it doesn’t hurt to overlap sometimes a bit and move on to something completely different for a while in order to keep your mind sharp and fresh and not get bogged down with the same thing. At least it works for me.

Shiela, it might have slipped your memory, but March 17th is St. Patrick’s day, the Irish are stronglyassociated with shamrocks and Leprechauns and if the proper respect or irreverence is not provided,you might find your shop invaded not by gremlins, but by leprechauns who can be quite mischievious. I have gotten most of my gremlin problems under control, I was wrongly blamed for most of the problems, and I would not like to see you afflicted with this problem. Thank you once again for sharing and green shamrock or Leprechaun figure might just fit into your March calendar.

So with Martyn, I am a geometrical person that likes to combine the straightline to a curve line. Symmetrical once and to assymetrical in all will give more emphasis on the hidden form… in these cases are the hearts.

Hi, Guys! I like the geometric designs, too. I still want to make a set of Art Deco ornaments, and I should be working on them in the near future. I just finished cutting the ornaments out and they were so much easier to do than my Wright Inspired Candle Tray. I didn’t have my Excalibur saw when I cut it out and I would love to do something with a lot of precision cutting with this saw. It was really fun to cut these.

Roger – there are 12 three leaf shamrocks and three with 4 leaves in this set. I have to put a few “lucky” ones in there. :)